If you intend to use someone's copyrighted work, unless the use is considered
a fair use, you must obtain that person's written permission. Under federal
copyright law, only the copyright owner or someone acting with the
owner's authority, such as a publisher, can grant that permission. While
not every unauthorized use of a copyrighted work is an infringement, whenever
you use another person's words, illustrations, photographs, charts or
graphs in your own work you must be sensitive to the risk of infringing
that individual's copyright.

The following information is provided to help you plan your permission
strategy and locate copyright holders more easily. For a more detailed
approach, consult The
Copyright Permission & Libel Handbook, by Jassin & Schechter
(John Wiley & Sons).

Where to Begin. Begin your search with the copyright notice. The
copyright notice identifies who owns the copyright. However, the copyright
owner does not always have the authority to grant you permission. For
permission to quote from a book, you must contact the publishers
rights department. If the publisher has gone out of business, or the book
is out of print, youll need to trace the author by doing a copyright
search or contacting one of the authors organizations listed
below.

It Takes Time. The permission process should begin when you start
researching and preparing your work. Permission requests are often ignored,
denied or lost. Unless the use is considered a fair use, your work
cannot be published without proper permissions.

Use Common Sense. All sources of material youve borrowed
or quoted from should be flagged and identified. Knowing where a particular
quote, passage, or photograph came from will save you hours of work later
on. And, remember, there may be multiple copyright owners of the material
you want to use.

Locating Copyright Holders

Useful links and postal addresses to assist you identify and locate rights
holders:

The WATCH file (Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders) is a searchable
online database containing the names and the addresses of rights holders
or contact persons for authors (and artists). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The ASCAP and BMI song title databases allows researchers to search by
song, title, songwriter or publisher for information on songs and songwriters
registered with these performing rights societies. If you don't know which
society a writer belongs to, look at the liner notes that accompanied
the CD or cassette. If a songwriter isn't registered with ASCAP, there's
an excellent chance he or she is affiliated with BMI. If all else fails,
contact SESAC.

HFA licenses musical compositions for use on records, tapes, CDS and computer
chips. It also licenses musical compositions for use in audio/visual works
including motion pictures, television programs, commercials and multi-media.
HFA maintains a searchable database of 2 million songs called www.songfile.com

The AMICO Library is the compilation of digital multimedia documentation
of works of art contributed by AMICO museum members. The AMICO Library
is available on a subscription basis to institutions of higher education,
public libraries, and museums.

ARS and VAGA are artists' rights organizations that license reproduction
rights to users of visual art on behalf of members. ARS represents the
estates of many of the artists active in France in this century, including
Kandinsky, Braque, Chagall and Miro. VAGA represents thousands of artists
worldwide, from struggling artists to well-known names such as Robert
Motherwell and Larry Rivers.

Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC)
An independent copyright licensing service authorized by motion picture
studios and independent producers to grant license for the public performances
of home videos.http://www.mplc.com/index2.htm

Academic Book and Journal Publishers:
A service of the Professional Center Library for Law and Management, Wake
Forest University. Designed for teachers and scholars.http://pcl.wfu.edu/

AcqWeb Directory of Publishers and Vendors
Compiled by AcqWeb. An international directory of publishers and
vendors used by libraries. It links to publisher web sites and email addresses.http://acqweb.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Find A Grave
Hit a dead end? Find A Grave is an online database containing the
location of thousands of famous graves from around the world. If all else
fails, write the cemetery office for information about next of kin. www.findagrave.com

Online Telephone Directories (United States)Find a person using the online White Pages. Find a business using the
online Yellow Pages.www.switchboard.com

Vital Records Information (United States)
This website contains information about where to obtain vital records
(such as birth, death & marriage certificates and divorce decrees)
from each state, territory and county of the United States. The site has
convenient links to online versions of the White Pages and Yellow Pages.www.vitalrec.com

DISCLAIMER: This article discusses general legal issues of interest and is not designed to give any specific legal advice pertaining to any specific circumstances. It is important that professional legal advice be obtained before acting upon any of the information contained in this article.